We thought the rider fell off or something and it was going to crash. Then it turned and kept mowing. Park Roomba!
Another picture:
Automation isn’t the enemy.
As ever, the owner class that hoards and wages economic war on you though automation for their exclusive benefit at their society’s expense are your enemy, whether you would fight them or not.
Arguing that we should “save” back breaking, repetitive unnatural movement, manual labor jobs that break human bodies by the time they’re 40 is the WRONG hill to die on. Fight for the citizenry to reap the benefits of automation through taxation, not to keep shitty jobs robots can do faster and better. Fight to change the economy so that everyone doesn’t need meaningless jobs machines can do better so we can have actual time to live our lives.
Taxing the fuck out of automation would let everyone win, because a heavily taxed robot is still far cheaper for the company than a human or possibly several humans for that one robot would be, so automation is here either way. We can riot to change our economy to benefit from this technology as we should, or we can be steamrolled yet again by the dictates of the affluent who will demand and get all the benefits and none of the responsibility if not confronted and countered on revolutionary terms.
Please pick the former. There’s no dignity or meaning to be had shuffling boxes around in an Amazon warehouse. Begging the owners to let us try to continue to compete with literal purpose built repetitive labor machines is not the way.
Fun fact: The Luddites weren’t opposed to technology. In many cases, they built the machines they would later destroy.
What they opposed was the ownership structure. The fact that they could be 30x more productive, yet be paid less than before because the required skill level was lower, and the working conditions were now dangerous and demeaning.
Yet when someone says “luddite” now, what do you think? A dummy who’s afraid of having cool stuff?
Put the corporate tax rate back up to 40% or more and implement a 10% robot tax on top of that. Then after that, implement a UBI starting at $1000 a month for US citizens with no strings attached, increasing with inflation over time. Solved for the next decade.
It’s too bad that the first things to be automated are the tasks that people don’t mind doing, leaving the real shitty tasks to be done by people. Riding around on a lawnmower has to be one of the most enjoyable forms of manual labour. Now the robots get the good jobs and we’re left with the backbreaking monotonous bullshit.
Are these the immigrants that are stealing all our jobs?
This is what people should be fearing. Studies have shown that when immigrants come in and “take jobs”, they pay taxes, and buy goods to create a life here, effectively replacing the job they took (since we need people who make beds for them to sleep in, food for them to eat, etc).
This is automation that’s ACTUALLY taking our jobs. This automation doesn’t pay taxes, and doesn’t replace the job it takes.
Very true, but let’s also keep in mind that automation doesn’t have to be a social evil. If our economic and political systems were better oriented toward lifting up society’s disadvantaged and keeping extreme individual/family wealth in check, automation could benefit all. With better social safety nets (or a UBI), government-sponsored job training (perhaps paid for by taxes on automation), and incentives for starting small businesses, automation could mean less human drudgery in the workforce, and more efficient economic outcomes for all.
I’m not optimistic about that given our track record as a species, but it’s possible.
TL;DR: automated production is good if and only if the people own the means.
Unfortunately the system has laid the framework for it to destroy itself when automation becomes ubiquitous. Imagine if y2k was inevitable but the engineers who’s jobs it was to fix it hands were tied by the software company’s forcing them to install more and more bugged software.
I have heard an idea floated around that the companies that make these types of automation devices would pay massive taxes on them, and that tax would pay for UBI. I’m not sure how the math works, but to me that sounds like the ultimate endgame. Then we can all enjoy our lives without needing to do tedious or backbreaking work.
My curiosity got the best of me, here’s the link to Wright: https://www.wrightmfg.com/products/mowers/commercial/stand-on/robotic-zk/
The Mower
- 40HP Vanguard Engine
- Hydro-Gear Smartec Drive-By-Wire 12cc
- 15.5 Gallon Fuel Capacity
- Centimeter-level accurate RTK GPS
- Commercial-grade Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU)
- Depth-sensing object detection cameras
- Rock-solid wireless emergency stop
- Remote control mode
- Live Greenzie support: Call for support while in the field for real-time fixes.
The Software
- Mow the boundary once, and the mower fills in the rest
- Remembers maps and can repeat them when you come back. Just place it in the previous boundary.
- Create no-go zones that will be saved with your map to avoid hitting hard-to-see obstacles like drain covers or small pipes sticking out of the ground.
- Record and repeat: Record yourself mowing the entire property, and the mower will replicate your movement.
- Manage the mower with the controller or a smart device in real-time.
- Advanced fleet support: See how your fleet is performing. Replay entire jobs, not just a dot on the map.
- Run multiple units at once.
- Set the stripe angle (for those stunning cross-hatch patterns)
- Seamless automatic updates
Damn, $45k. Though I guess for something like a park it probably has a pretty quick ROI.
Depends on how much maintenance it requires. And someone is going to need to be paid to deploy it and watch it to ensure that nobody fucks with it and that it doesn’t eat some park sunbather or something. And to make sure the grounds are clear of debris. Etc.
Don’t think you can count on just removing a salary here.
If you want one for your own yard, there are significantly cheaper options. The husqvarna automower is under $1000 and can be integrated into Home Assistant. I’ve seen a lot of positive opinions about it in the HA communities
Nah, my yard is tiny and I don’t mind mowing it. I have a Ryobi battery mower so it’s super-easy to do. If I ever move somewhere with a bigger yard though I would seriously consider it. Especially as I already have Home Assistant running!
I built an autosteer called AgOpenGPS for our tractors that pretty much does this. Cost about $1000 per unit. We still sit in the tractor because there’s a hell of a lot going on besides steering the tractor, but it will drive the entire field without intervention.
At a quick glance on that site I didn’t see any information about safety. Did you come across anything?
I guess there is the line about object sensors, but would like to know a little more before deploying something with rotating blades (which is still pretty cool, don’t get me wrong)
And can it avoid running over trash? Because if they automate the mowing you better believe nobody is out picking up the trash before mowing. And are they paying someone to ensure nobody vandalizes the machine so the cost savings is moot.
Okay somehow the words rock solid wireless emergency stop seem oxymoronic. I don’t care how it was programmed what wireless communication system uses or anything else. I have a hard time believing wireless emergency stops can be foolproof.
Never seen a gas powered automatic lawnmower, only electric ones.
This is the size of a huge riding mower you only see used by parks departments and the like.
